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The Witcher season 3 is currently filming with Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, and Anya Chalotra returning as Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer. However, according to new reports, it seems that not all of the stars of the show will be back for the new season. Rience, the fire mage who caused the main trio plenty of problems in season 2, has been recast.
According to Witcher fan site Redanian Intelligence, the character will no longer be played by actor Chris Fulton who debuted on the show in season 2. Taking his place is Sam Woolf. The actor is best known for Strike and Humans, and will soon play Prince Edward in The Crown season 5.
There’s been no confirmation yet from Netflix about the recasting, but Redanian Intelligence shared some set photos of the new actor in costume on set. There may have been some scheduling clashes too, as Fulton will likely be busy filming Netflix’s Bridgerton season 3, where he plays Sir Philip Crane.
Rience was introduced as a major antagonist in season 2 where his main mission was to hunt Ciri down. He was employed by Lydia van Bredevoort (Aisha Fabienne Ross) who broke him out of a Cintran prison for the task. Throughout the second season, he failed multiple times to track the lost princess.
Firstly, he kidnapped Jaskier for information. However, Yennefer turned up and used his magic against him, dousing his face in alcohol and burning him. Rience survived the attack and later portaled into Kaer Morhen to try and find Ciri. He failed, but did locate the witcher mutagen that contained Ciri’s blood. The mage then planned a further attack at the Temple where he was stopped at the last moment by Geralt.
We last saw Rience in the season 2 finale when he and Lydia were speaking to their mysterious employer about their plan to track down Ciri. It’s not clear how this will develop in season 3, but we do know from the synopsis that Ciri will be forced into hiding as "monarchs, mages, and beasts" continue to search for her. Looks like there's trouble ahead...
The Witcher season 3 is expected to be released in 2023. In the meantime, check out our guides to the best Netflix shows and best Netflix movies to stream right now.
